Syracuse Football: Top 5 orange peels from SU’s victory over CMU
1. Sean Freaking Riley
Where the heck did Sean Riley come from? Well technically speaking, when two people really love each other and they want to have a baby.
All kidding aside, he was recruited from Los Angeles, California. The petite sophomore standing at 5’8 on his tippy toes and weighing 155 pounds soaking wet was the unlikely hero for the Orange on Saturday.
While he could’ve caused more damage than he did with a couple of his big plays called back by penalty, he still racked up 247 all purpose yards. You read that correctly, coming in the running game, receiving, and returning game.
Riley came up big when SU needed him most. On SU’s official site he’s listed as a return specialist, and he’s been stuck in that label during his young career with the Orange. Now he’s kicked the door of opportunity in and has forced Babers hand to maximize his talents on offense.
Which is not only good news for Riley’s career with the Orange, but also in terms of SU becoming a more explosive team down the stretch. On the postgame show on The Score 1260, I took a bunch of calls that suggested the only way for SU to take down a behemoth on their schedule would be to take shots downfield. It’s hard to disagree with that notion, speaking of skins on the wall, SU has their first opportunity next week in Death Valley against LSU.